Bacon & Leek Pasta - our very favourite fall-back recipe

I used macaroni because it needed using up - but Spirali or Fusilli are good!

Let's not shilly-shally about - this recipe occurred on this day purely because of Bacon Connoisseur's Week.  However, I was so pleased I booked it in for the beginning of the week instead of the end (it's a great Monday dinner, as it doesn't need many fresh vegetables keeping for it!).  After all last week's activities, I could do with an easy peasy meal to make.

I couldn't eat this meal too regularly, but as a fall-back position for tired days or when you want a quick meal before going out - you just can't beat it.

The entire ingredient list is 8 items - 9 if you include Parmesan for sprinkling, which isn't essential, but is nice - and so long as you choose a good well flavoured back bacon, you just can't go wrong.

Diced bacon cooking out its moisture and rendering the fat

The recipe can bear some adaptation, too - as I've used sliced mushrooms with the leeks in the past and they haven't done it any harm at all.  So it's a useful repository for a few unused mushrooms!  Peas would go nicely, too.

See what I mean about pressing each little round to see if it's soft enough to separate?

However, I wouldn't recommend using low fat creme fraiche, as in my experience it has a tendency to split - and as it forms the majority of the sauce, that would just be horrible.  However, you're only using 200ml of it - and divided amongst three people, it's only 66.6ml per person which isn't too terrible!

The gorgeous sauce, all ready to be added to the pasta

This recipe has the undoubted accolade of being the first recipe to be cooked in our new flat in Dorset when we first moved here.  We had just a borrowed two-ring Belling hotplate as the cooker hadn't been installed at that stage and sitting down to a yummy comforting plate of Bacon & Leek Pasta in our new place, really helped to make it feel like home.

There's just something very harmonious about the creaminess, the sharpness of the salty, smoky bacon against the gentle savouriness of the leek, then the soft chewiness of the pasta - all closely followed by a comforting warmth from the cayenne that says "eat me and relax".


Don't mind if I do.  :)

BACON & LEEK PASTA   (serves 3)

300g back bacon, diced
a knob of butter
2-3 leeks, trimmed up, washed and sliced
1 tsp mushroom ketchup or Worcestershire sauce
300g pasta (spirali or fusilli are good)
200ml creme fraiche D'Isigny (or any good full fat creme fraiche)
half a tsp of cayenne pepper
50ml semi-skimmed milk
some grated parmesan cheese, for sprinkling.


Method :


1.  Heat a dry frying pan and then cook the bacon until the fat has rendered and the bacon is becoming crispy.  Remove and set aside to keep warm.

2.  Place a large pan of salted water on to a heat, for the pasta.

3.  Add the knob of butter to the bacon juices and on a gentle heat, add the leeks - trying to get them all to lay down in contact with the pan as much as possible.  Cook them gently in this way, until each little "round" separates with a press from your spoon or spatula.  Separate out all the layers in this way and add the mushroom ketchup or Worcestershire sauce.

4.  When the pasta water boils, add the pasta and cook according to the packet instructions (usually 9-10 minutes or until al dente).  Drain well, once cooked, and return to the pan to keep warm.

5.  Add the creme fraiche to the frying pan, along with a little milk to help it dissolve into a sauce.  Add the cayenne pepper and taste to check the seasoning - add a little salt or pepper (both are highly unlikely) if required.


6.  Cook gently until either the creme fraiche has warmed through or the sauce has achieved the consistency you prefer, then add it to the pasta and stir through gently.


7.  Serve at once, onto warmed plates.  Add a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese, to taste.

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Menu planning for Bacon Connoisseur's Week - shouldn't be difficult!

Bacon, bacon - what would we do without the stuff?  How on earth do people cope, who don't eat bacon?  Come to that, how do vegetarians stay vegetarian, when there's bacon in the world?  I know I didn't.  I spent a year and a half being vegetarian after the traumatic time of having my first horse put to sleep.  Put me off meat in a big way, that did.  However, I was won over by the promise of a bacon & egg sandwich.  Oooh, but it was good!

So this week is Bacon Connoisseur's Week, but before I get into describing the bacony loveliness that we're indulging in, a few words about the end of last week.

We had my parents over for Sunday lunch on Mothering Sunday, which was very nice indeed and it was lovely to see them outside of their house - as we always seem to be going over there!  Hubby was in charge of the catering on the day, to save my stress levels from soaring and (potentially) making me feel worse than I currently do.  He did a sterling job, cooking them his signature Risotto - this time it was a Bacon & Asparagus risotto, which is one of our favourites.  We were tempted to do the Bramley Apple, Bacon & Black Pudding risotto, but didn't know how they might react to black pudding, so erred on the side of caution.  The Bacon & Asparagus version is always completely gorgeous though - and everyone presented cleaned plates at the end of the meal, so I think they agreed.

I'd made a lovely big retro trifle for dessert - a strawberry & raspberry sherry version.  Quite apart from being completely mouthwatering and retrospective, it had the advantage that it could be made beforehand and just be waiting in the fridge for its moment in the sun.  I'll be blogging the recipe, so I won't go into detail here.

Thinking on, we started Bacon Connoisseur's Week early, with our Sunday lunch of Bacon & Asparagus Risotto!

So, what's on the menu for the coming week then?  Here you go :

Tues : Bacon & Leek Pasta

Wed : Petuba Canneloni with salad

Thur : Hoisin Chicken and noodles

Fri : Takeaway or eat out

Sat : Sausage croissants with potato wedges

Sun : Turkey & Chestnut Cider Pie with mashed potato, green beans & broccoli

Mon : to be confirmed!

Good old Bacon & Leek Pasta.  It's a favourite standby recipe that gets trotted out when I want a meal that's easy to prepare.  It just so happened that I haven't yet got around to blogging this stalwart of a recipe and because it's Bacon Connoisseur's Week, it seemed like a good place to start.

Tonight's Petuba Canneloni is a recipe that has primarily been dreamt up by hubby - so I've left him to cope with all the processes that are involved.  Petuba?  You're wondering about the name, aren't you.  I know I would be! Well, it's an amalgamation.  You see, the stuffing for the canneloni will involve Peppadew PEppers, TUrkey breast steaks and BAcon, all held together with Ricotta cheese.  Pe-tu-ba, see?  This recipe fits very nicely in with two promotions that are being conducted at the moment - the "I love British Turkey" and Bacon Connoisseur's Week.

In conjunction with "I love British Turkey" I was recently sent some turkey products and the Peppadew peppers, to work with and concoct some yummy recipes.  So if turkey keeps on popping up in the menu plans, you know why!

Thursday's dinner breaks free from all influences of bacon or turkey and we're satisfying my craving for Hoisin sauce.  Currently, we're having terrible trouble finding a tin of water chestnuts, but hopefully we'll have tracked one down by tomorrow.  I was sure I'd bought water chestnuts from Asda on previous occasions, but neither of us could find any trace of any such thing there yesterday.  A shame, because I absolutely love water chestnuts and they will provide lovely crunchiness along with soft chicken and noodles, baby sweetcorn and mange tout.

Angus Young - for those who don't know!

Son & heir is involved in a concert at his school - a "We will rock you" type concert where he's playing guitar and singing - so there is lots of after school rehearsals going on, increasing in intensity the closer we get to concert day.  Hence, Friday is the big dress rehearsal and we've no idea when it is likely to grind to a halt, so that's definitely a "no cook" day.  He's dressing up as Angus Young (from AC/DC) and there's been no end of anguish over his costume, but I think we've cracked it now, with judicious use of safety pins and a lucky strike where a hat was concerned.

He is also appearing as part of the choir, which requires him to wear black & white - and a jacket.  Well that jacket has been harder to source than anything else.  Even so, we've wound up with a very dark navy jacket that's just going to have to do.  School seems to think we're all made of money and can just go out and buy a brand new black jacket just for the concert, but I'm afraid life's not that easy!

Sort of like this - except prettier!

Saturday sees the return of Sausage Croissants which got bumped from last week's menu list before it even hit publication - where you use frozen croissant dough and spread it with chutney before wrapping around a part-cooked sausage, then baking.  I thought it looked like a nice variation on a sausage roll idea - and we all like sausage rolls!  I shall be having coleslaw with mine and I expect the chaps will be happy with potato wedges with theirs.  A suitable Saturday meal, I thought.

Sunday brings a return to creating meals with British Turkey.  I was sent a pack of cubed turkey leg meat, which was saying either "stew" or "pie" to me.  The stew option seemed too easy and too obvious, whereas the pie option seemed to be a little more challenging where the potential for additional flavours was concerned.  I'm currently aiming for a pie filling involving the turkey along with some chestnuts, carrots, mushrooms and a little celery, all held within a light but creamy cider gravy or sauce, under a puff pastry lid.  Looking at it there, it sounds lovely - so I'm fairly hopeful.

Monday is the day before the big concert, so we're leaving that day's meal open at the moment, as we don't really know what's going to happen with regard to rehearsals.  We'll plan that one over the weekend, I think, once we've got a better picture of what's happening.

Hey!  You'll never guess what?  I made the Dorset Apple Cake!  I know - what a surprise, eh?  Well, I shall be blogging that recipe, too - so I'll leave it at "yum with cream!" for now.

As for incidental bakes and makes this week, well I have some muffin baking to do.  Waay back when, I made some completely gorgeous Bacon & Cheese muffins that were just divine for breakfast, coffee time - any time, really.  They aren't cheap to make - not as an incidental make - but are very worth it.  I was amazed to find (when I was planning bacon posts) that I hadn't blogged the results, so they were definitely going to be made this week.

Lastly, we were given some lovely Zinfandel wine by the folk at Barefoot Wines, with which to make a Mother's Day cocktail.  Well, between one thing and another, we completely failed to make it for Mother's Day, but we'll very definitely be making it some time this week.  Involving strawberries, zinfandel and gin, I'm only amazed we haven't got to it sooner!

So, with a rousing chorus of "We are the champions", let's head off into Turkey and Bacon week - with a large seasoning of Queen hits for good measure!

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A little bit of a lamby week, this week! Meal plan w/b 4.10.11

As ever, before I get onto this week (which has turned out to be a little bit lamby), let me just tell you about last Sunday's dinner.  Well, it was very exciting, you see!

I had bought a piece of roasting bacon (as opposed to a rasher of bacon, which wouldn't roast at all well) which I put into the slow cooker with some lovely stock vegetables and a covering of water.  Some 4-5 hours later, it was beautifully tender, sweet and juicy.  Now you may remember that I was hedging my bets where the accompanying vegetables were concerned, owing to the weather.  Ultimately, we went with a seasonal compromise.  We had some new potatoes in the cupboard and so had these steamed with ... drum roll ... green beans and brussels sprouts ... from the garden!  Ta daaaa!  (Oh, and some carrots and swede from the supermarket).  Match that lot up with a lovely parsley sauce made with fresh parsley and you've got a very successful Sunday dinner.

I was so excited to be eating our first brussels sprouts!  They were gorgeous, because they're so new - just babies really - they hadn't grown into those big old hoary sprouts that you sometimes find in the supermarket.  They were crisp from being just picked, mild and crunchy.  Now that sort of excitement is why so many people grow their own veg., I'm sure of it.

We're hoping that the Romanescu cauliflowers come to something too - but they're looking a bit random at the moment.  Not sure what they're supposed to look like at this stage - does anybody know?

I won't worry if all we get are these little fellows - I'm sure they still taste nice, even if they're not quite what they're supposed to be!


So, that excitement over, let's turn our attention to what you might find appearing in Rhubarb & Ginger this week.

Tues : Pizza all round

Weds : Keema Mutter, Vegetable Curry & white rice

Thurs : Shop-bought steak & kidney pie with home grown veg.

Fri : Bacon & Leek Pasta

Sat : Nasi Goreng

Sun : Lamb & boulangere potatoes, home grown veg.

Mon : Tortellini in sauce, with garlic bread.

Hubby and I didn't get to have anything special on Tuesday, because I had an appointment right at the time I should have been cooking.  Hence we opted for the easy avenue and hubby took care of dinner, which was pizza-shaped.  Mind you, I was pleased to find a "sensibly sized" (i.e. smaller than an entire dinner plate) pizza in the supermarket.  I find these gigantic pizzas that overflow your plate just too much food.  Hubby always took care of the leftovers for breakfast the following day, but that's not recommended practice on a regular basis.

Now, Wednesday's dinner I was really looking forward to making.  I'd found a recipe for Keema Mutter (which translates as lamb mince with peas) which looked not only easy to make, but really tasty.  I intended to serve it just with white rice, but then had a bright idea.  Looking at the recipe, I thought that it sounded like it could be a bit lively in the chilli department - in which case, we'd probably (well, those of us who don't go by the nickname of ChilliBob, that is) be requiring something to balance that with.  So I decided to make a plain old vegetable curry, which I hoped would do that job, along with the white rice.

I won't witter on about it now, as I've promised it its own blog posting - it was that good.  If you like curries, make sure to come back and take a look!

Hubby's in charge of dinner on Thursday evening, when we're indulging in a shop-bought Steak & Kidney pie, for ease.  Fingers crossed, we'll be able to have some more of those home-grown veggies with the pie!

We had an unexpected visitor today (Thursday), in that my lovely friend and ex-colleague Jenny (yes, another Jenny!) was in the area and popped in for a cuppa and to say hello.  Well, I couldn't let her go away without a bite of something - so made Jack Knight's Mum's Library Book Marmalade Cake.

Again, this was such an unbridled success that I shall be blogging the results.  However, if you're curious about the recipe, why not go along to Jack's Blog and see!

We've an extra mouth to feed on Friday, as one of son & heir's friends from school will be in for dinner that day.  They are working on a homework project to build a mini moonbuggy (in my day, it was a papier mache volcano - how times have changed!) so will be consulting with hubby over the electronics for same.

It's just as well, therefore, that I was already planning a simple dish like Bacon & Leek Pasta.  The friend is notoriously difficult to feed (his Mum sent a message that "he only likes sausages"), but I'm hoping that the extreme yumminess of this pasta dish will win him over.  It's bacon - what could go wrong?  Everyone likes bacon!

I've had a sudden fancy for Nasi Goreng.  It's funny how it happens like that.  The last sudden fancy I had, was for "something in a cheese sauce" - and so the Cauliflower Cheese happened.

I've loved Nasi Goreng for as long as I've known about it, I think.  I suspect that my earliest memories of it are when my parents would buy it in huge tins from the NAAFI shop in Germany (when my Dad was stationed there with the Army).  We'd have it for tea - I suspect it was just a simple heating up job, probably in a frying pan, and I absolutely loved it.  I wonder if you can get it nowadays?  Considering that was around forty-mumble years ago, I doubt it!

Sunday's Lamb & boulangere potatoes is another new dish.  I love lamb, but it's just that bit too pricey to buy anything other than mince at the moment.  However, lamb mince is better than no lamb at all, so it's just a matter of working out different ways of cooking it.

I made a very successful dish of Boulangere potatoes in the recent past and considering that the potatoes that go on the top of a hot pot are along those lines, I figured that if I made some lovely savoury lamb mince and topped it with boulangere-style potatoes, it might work.  I'll let you know - but I can tell you that just the idea of it is making my tummy rumble, right now!

So that brings us to Monday, when hubby is back in charge in the kitchen and has decided to be brave and definitely try the ole filled pasta.  He's not had a very good time with filled pasta in the past, but on my recommendation (I sometimes have some for lunch) on the basis that as time has gone by the quality has improved, said he would give it a go.

This was on a menu plan previously, but he swerved it by enticing me with a Chinese Takeaway - always a good avoidance technique - so we'll see whether we make it this time!  I'm quite looking forward to it, even if it is shop bought.  Hey - it'll give me a night off - and after three nights of cooking, that will be very welcome.

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